Task Force Takes It To The Streets

Gang Activities Worry County

January 21, 1986|By Art Barnum.

Du Page County is interested in attracting commerce and industry to move out of Chicago and into its suburbs. The Chicago White Sox, and perhaps the Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls, are checking out the county. And what`s left of the Chicago World`s Fair committee has considered what the county offers.

But Chicago street gangs? No, thank you.

In an attempt to study the extent to which street gangs are a problem in the county, a Citizens Advisory Task Force has been formed by the Du Page state`s attorney`s office.

``We are receiving some signs that there is gang crime in our communities,`` said James Ryan, Du Page County state`s attorney, who formed the task force. ``I`m not saying it is a major problem, but we need to find out and address it.``

The 18-member task force will hold a series of seven public hearings throughout the country over the next several months in an attempt to get input on the state of gang activity. The first public hearing is expected to be held in several weeks in Addison Township.

After the hearings, the task force is to develop recommendations on how to deal with any gang problems it discovers, Ryan said. He said he expects a final report this summer.

``The activity that is present seems to have some roots in the Chicago streets,`` said Ernest DiBenedetto, chief of the gang crime prosecution unit of the Cook County state`s attorney`s office, who has been appointed a special consultant to the committee. ``But no one seems to accurately know what the status of gang activity in Du Page is.``

Ryan said that in a survey of 32 local Du Page police departments, 23 said they had some contacts with gang activity, with the largest problem being graffiti. Four suburbs said that gangs may have been responsible for burglaries in their towns, and one police department said gangs were recruiting potential members in its suburb.

``I don`t want to scare people,`` Ryan said. ``I really don`t believe that it is a major problem, but we have to find out now.

``The extent of gangs is an open question, as is the question of the gangs being homegrown or from Chicago,`` Ryan said. ``Maybe it is just kids trying to emulate gangs, but we need to know if it is something we have to worry about in the future.``

``If gangs are a problem, then they are a problem for law enforcements officials, school boards and education officials and especially for parents,`` DiBenedetto said. ``The kids might be doing nothing more than just copycatting.``

Ryan said that several crimes prosecuted by his office involved members of Chicago street gangs, including an recent conviction for attempted murder that involved a member of a gang and a murder conviction of a member of another gang.

``It could be that some present or past gang members just have moved to a new place, in Du Page, to go somewhere where they aren`t recognized,``